VLADIMIR Putin unleashed another wave of strikes on Ukraine despite promises to Donald Trump to halt his massacre during the dead of winter.
Air raid sirens blasted across the country, in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kupiansk and other devastated cities overnight, forcing people to flee to shelters in sub-zero temperatures.
The Ukrainian air force said an “Iskander” ballistic missile was deployed as well as 111 drones overnight after a rumoured “energy truce”.
Footage circulated on social media shows strikes on a fuel tanker truck on the Mykolaivka-Dmytrivka highway in Dnipropetrovsk region, igniting it in flames.
Ukrainian media also reported that Russian forces attacked three power plants in Kyiv with ballistic missiles, as Patriot air defence systems did not have projectiles to protect them.
The strikes came only hours after the US President said during a cabinet meeting that he had “personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week.”
“A lot of people said, ‘Don’t waste the call. You’re not going to get that,”‘ Trump added.
“And he agreed to do that. And I have to tell you, it was very nice.”
Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, hoping to wear down public resistance to the war.
Kyiv has grappled with severe power shortages this winter, leaving tens of thousands of people having to endure the blistering cold without heat.
This comes the capital is forecast to enter a brutally cold stretch starting today, which is expected to last into next week.
Temperatures in some areas are set to plummet to -30°C, the Ukrainian Emergency Service warned.
For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky praised his US counterpart for the effort and welcomed the “possibility” of a pause in Russian assaults on Kyiv and beyond.
He added that Ukrainian and US teams discussed the issue during recent trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates with Russia.
“Power supply is a foundation of life. We value the efforts of our partners to help us protect lives,” he added on X.
But Zelensky later told journalists that there were no direct agreements between Ukraine and Russia on stopping strikes against energy facilities.
He repeated his commitment to halt Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy facilities if the Kremlin does the same.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Zelensky warned that Russia is assembling forces for a major aerial attack.
Previous large attacks, sometimes involving more than 800 drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, have targeted the Ukrainian power grid.
He also said that every next strike “discredits” the US-brokered peace talks.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said on Thursday that “a lot of progress” was made in recent three-way talks and expressed optimism that more headway can be made when the parties meet again in the coming days.
“I think the people of Ukraine are now hopeful and expecting that we are going to deliver a peace deal sometime soon,” Witkoff added.
This comes as Zelensky challenged Putin to meet him face-to-face so for the ceasefire discussions.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha made it clear that Zelensky is ready to meet Russia‘s tyrant for the first time since the war began in 2022 for showdown talks.
Last week’s trilateral talks ended without a clear sign of a truce. The major sticking point is believed to be Putin;’s obsession to have all of the Donbas region.
The tyrant warned that he will only stop his invasion if Zelensky gives up the whole territory.
But Ukraine is adamant that they should not be made to surrender land they have spent four years fighting to keep.
The other sticking point revolves around who controls the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant – the largest in Europe.
